Get to Know the Market: Pie Love

Interview with Pie Love

While we love all the beautiful vegetables at the QAFM, we count the days until we can get a piece of s’mores pie from Pie Love. For our second interview this season, we caught up with Kelly Goodenough, owner of Pie Love, as she prepares for her first QA market of the season. Kelly has been baking around town for 15 years and currently serves as Betty Restaurant’s pastry chef. We connected with Kelly this week to learn a few baking tips, hear how her rhubarb pie brings customers comfort during this tough time and to find out what key ingredient makes her crust so good. A hint? It rhymes with flutter.

Q: How did you become a pie maker/pastry chef?

A: I was always interested in food. Some of my earliest memories are going to farm stands with my mom and picking snap peas from our garden. I started cooking and baking in about the 4th grade. I made my first cookbook in 5th grade called Kelly’s Guide to Life, which was really just a journal with recipes and thoughts. I wasn’t sure if I wanted to be a chef, but I knew I wanted to be an artist of some sort. While I was at college, I realized that I really enjoyed cooking for friends and had a need to bake and share with people. So after graduation, I went to pastry school in Vancouver, Canada, and I’ve been baking at bakeries, cafes and restaurants around Seattle for the last 15 years.

Q: What was your best-selling pie last summer?
A: Rhubarb is the pie flavor that people get the most excited about. In fact it is the most popular flavor for any dessert I make. I think it’s because it’s a little intimidating to use as an ingredient [at home] but one that brings back memories of their moms or grandmas.

Q: Do you plan on adding any new pie flavors this summer?

A: I’m actually starting the season off with Strawberry Rhubarb, which is a classic pie flavor, but one I’ve never made for Pie Love before.  I usually make a rhubarb pistachio pie, which is delicious, but this
year I think people need something else. Having to be distant with our friends and family means we might not get to share food made by them. And the biggest comment I get about rhubarb is about how it reminds people of their mom, grandmother or aunt’s pie from when they were a kid. I want to provide that comfort and nostalgia for them.

But usually when I come up with a new flavor it’s by walking in nature or going on trips. For example, the huckleberry pear pie with rosemary crust came about after walking on a trail in Carkeek park that has an abandoned orchard. Along the trail, there by the old orchard, are huckleberry bushes and fir trees and I wanted to capture that in a pie.

Q: What do you do during the winter months?

A: During the winter I mostly take a break from making pie. I do a few craft shows and holiday markets but mostly I do my regular job which is being the pastry chef at Betty Restaurant.

Q: What is a slab pie?

A: I did not invent the slab pie. The first time I saw one may have been many years ago in a Martha Stewart magazine. She suggested making a slab pie for a picnic or party because it’s larger and can serve more people. Usually a slab pie is a shallow rectangular pie in a sheet or jelly roll pan. While fillings are super important, slab pies focus on the delicious crust which makes it more portable and less messy to eat.

Q: Why is your crust so good? Is it a secret family recipe?
A: Butter! I use plenty of butter and a lot of love. It is not a secret family recipe but one that I’ve been tinkering with for many years.

Q: Any tips for home bakers? 

A: Don’t be scared. Baking and especially pie crust making can be intimidating. Just make it a couple of times. It takes practice and patience. It’s bound to be better than most store bought pie crusts. And if it’s not, there are people like me to get your pie from.

Q: My favorite is always your s’mores pie. What type of chocolate do you use?

A: I use Callebaut 70% dark chocolate. To me it has a nice deep roasted chocolate flavor that is not too complicated but [tastes] like the best hot cocoa.

Q: Lastly, how do you want to grow your business? Do you eventually want a storefront?
A: Storefronts are a big investment and a big responsibility. Although I do have a dream to one day have a café of some sort, that it not happening in the near future. For now, I’m enjoying the farmers’ market
and keeping my business small. I want to do more pop-ups at breweries and events when those happen again and maybe sell frozen pies at small local markets around Seattle.

Q: Is there anything I didn't ask you but you want to share with us?
A: Most of my job as a pastry chef is early in the morning and by myself. It can be lonely at times and because I’m not around when the restaurant is open I don’t get to see people enjoying my desserts. That is why I came up with Pie Love. I wanted to interact with my community and give joy and comfort to people through pie. I also love the comradely I get from the farmers and other entrepreneurs at the market. It’s a special place and the I reason I love coming back each year.

Interview by QAFM reporter Max Chandrasekaran.